A judge on Wednesday awarded Blake Lively about $400,000 in attorneys’ fees in her dispute with “It Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni, well short of the $8 million she had sought.
Lively and Baldoni settled their 18-month legal war in May, avoiding a federal trial that was scheduled for later that month. At the time, the only loose end was Lively’s motion for attorneys’ fees for having to defend against Baldoni’s failed defamation suit.
Judge Lewis Liman on Wednesday awarded her $363,000 in attorneys’ fees and another $44,000 in court costs. In his ruling, the judge found that Lively was entitled only to the “reasonable” fees related to defending against the defamation suit.
Liman ruled that while the attorneys’ billing rates were “not unreasonable,” given the high stakes of the case and the complexity of the issues, “(t)he number of hours for which Lively seeks reimbursement is unreasonable.”
Lively had asked for $7.5 million in attorneys’ fees and another $540,000 in court costs. Instead, the judge awarded her just double what the New York Times was awarded for defending itself from Baldoni’s defamation case.
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, noted that Lively got only 5% of what she asked for.
“The ruling is a significant victory for my clients and sends a clear message that, no matter how powerful you may be, the courtroom is not a place to take advantage of the law for your own personal gain,” Freedman said.
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Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, took a different view, arguing that the outcome shows “that there are real consequences of bringing retaliatory lawsuits.”
“As we have said from day one, Blake Lively’s case was never about money – it was about accountability,” they said. “She lifted the curtain for other victims, and set the precedent for others to come forward and expose similar conduct. This result demonstrates that the legal system is not as easily manipulated as social media, and still functions as a force for accountability.”
Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in December 2024, alleging that Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios had launched an online smear campaign against her in retaliation for raising complaints about sexual harassment on the set of “It Ends With Us.”
Baldoni fired back with a defamation suit, accusing Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of concocting fake allegations as part of an effort to hijack creative control of the film. He also sued the Times for running a story drawn largely on on the civil rights complaint. That suit was dismissed on the grounds that Lively’s claims were protected by litigation privilege and the paper’s coverage was a fair report of the proceedings.
Lively sought compensation under a 2023 California law meant to discourage frivolous defamation suits against accusers who come forward with allegations of sexual assault. Lively initially asked for treble damages and punitive damages as well, but Liman previously ruled that those were not available under federal law.
From Variety US